What Bill Martins Retirement Means For Michigan Football

Bill Martin, University of Michigan's athletic director, has decided his time leading the maize and blue will come to an end. By the time the new football season starts next year there will be a new leader advancing this historic program into a new decade.

Unfortunately there have been numerous rumors pointing straight at Hall of Fame coach Lloyd Carr. He was one heck of a ball coach, no one can deny that. But there is one giant dilemma for this, hopefully incorrect, rumor. The biggest problem I see is the new ball coach, Rich Rodriguez.

In Carr's mind we all know that he thinks the RR hire was a bad decision and many examples point to it being a bad one. If Lloyd had his way two seasons ago he would have named his successor and it most likely would have been a true blue Michigan man. One of the family as Bo would probably put it.

When Rich Rod was first hired I knew that big changes were ahead for Michigan, and I also knew that it would take a couple of years for him to get his own players in the system. He didn't get Terrell Pryor, thankfully, and his first season was dismal to say the least. But year two is 110% better so far.

When Lloyd Carr decided to retire I honestly hoped LSU's Les Miles would be the predecessor to continue the blue tradition but was incredulously disappointed. If the current regime of Rich Rod cannot get back to the national powerhouse it once was in the next three to four years there could be another big shakeup of the man to lead the victors.

Michigan needs to hire a strong business mind to lead this program for the next decade or so. Hiring Lloyd would only hurt the progression this school is headed in. They need an aggressive outgoing mind to bring somewhat of a roar back to the Wolverines swagger.

Bill Martin has done an outstanding job for the ten years he lead this program. He has made strong decisions in pushing this school forward by always getting the best of the best for his student athletes. This is a great historical program and hiring Lloyd Carr as Martins predecessor will bring Michigan to an abrupt, crashing downfall.